Emily’s story

The much-valued professional mentors on our Mentoring Women in Business Programme dedicate two hours a month of their time to their woman entrepreneur mentee, ordinarily over the course of a year. Through this rich, personal and rewarding relationship, the mentor supports their mentee to set and work towards her business goals, and builds her confidence. Mentors share their expertise and act as their mentee’s thought partner. Meanwhile, mentors develop their own skills, gain new perspectives and insights, and play a crucial role in the development of a small business—often with fantastic impacts. While mentors in the past have come from the workforces of our partner companies, we’re excited to have now opened up this valuable opportunity to professionals everywhere without needing to come through part of a formal partnership.

Emily Quinn is a Senior Product Manager in the UK, and our first ‘independent’ mentor. She joined the programme in November 2020. Five months in, she has completed the first two phases of the programme, developing a strong connection with her mentee Irene Ubani , based in Nigeria, and setting goals for the remainder of their time together. So, how are things looking so far?

Supported to flourish

As Irene’s thought partner, over 5 months so far Emily has supported her to develop goals and workplans to take her business to the next level. This progress has been fuelled by their diligence as well as the help of the Foundation’s Mentoring team: “About six weeks in I reached out for support from the team. A member of the team responded straight away and gave me advice on outlining ground rules and having firm conversations about expectations in the relationship. It can be difficult to transition from getting to know each other to getting down to business and getting the goals articulated, it’s a hard jump but the Mentoring team were very helpful for me and Irene.”

This support has helped Emily provide accountability to Irene as well as flexibility in their relationship. Irene says: “Emily has ensured I have a monthly target and always follows up on my progress. I absolutely love that she is never too busy to have a conversation with me way beyond the expected hours for monthly mentoring.”

Beyond the Mentoring support, Emily has made use of the monthly webinars that the programme holds for programme participants, both mentors and mentees: “I really like the webinars; they make me think outside my day-to-day work and what I could be doing, they give me something else to share with Irene.”

Developing Skills

Many participants find the programme highly personal and rewarding, and Emily has been a warm, friendly source of encouragement for Irene, who tells us “she’s been so supportive in reviewing and advising me on my new business website and new business programme, “Business Insights with Irene”. I’ve also just launched an online media network called “Lady Irene David-Arinze” (LIDA) Network on Youtube. I was a bit overwhelmed about what was needed to implement structure in my new business in the media space which she has adequate experience. It was indeed a seamless process for me, all thanks to Emily.”

On top of this, the relationship has opened Emily’s eyes to new and different contexts of business: “I’m used to developing products within an established infrastructure, but Irene is making me think; how would I approach this in a new business? This is helping me in my job as we expand into new areas I’m able to consider factors that previously I had no experience of.”

“I’m learning more about Nigeria and the context of the media business there, and I’ve developed my own confidence in a relatively short amount of time, to get nice feedback from Irene has really helped me.”

Emily feels she has gained as much from Irene as she has given: “Irene’s attitude is incredible- I want mine to be more like that, she’s so enthusiastic and energetic about everything, she’s inspiring me.”

Thinking of following in Emily’s footsteps?

Reflecting on her time mentoring so far, Emily says: “The programme is super convenient to participate in. Two hours a month is a sensible amount, and the expectations the team have of both mentee and mentor is spot on. The team leaves it very much up to us, but make it obvious they are there to support.”

As we look for more enthusiastic and eager mentors to sign up, Emily has this to say to anyone considering taking the opportunity: “I would 100% recommend the programme. At first I thought: will it be awkward? Can I actually help?  But even if you don’t know everything you’re always going to be helpful because you’re additional support, you’re someone to bounce ideas off. Just having that person to turn to and speak to and have the different perspective is fantastic. It’s a two way street and it’s totally beneficial for both parties. The programme is reasonable, super convenient and it works really well.”

We can’t wait to see what they achieve over the remainder of their journey together!